Product description

In one of the most inventive travel books in years, Ina Caro invites readers on twenty-five one-day train trips that depart from Paris and transport us back through seven hundred years of French history. Whether taking us to Orleans to evoke the visions of Joan of Arc or to the Place de la Concorde to witness the beheading of Marie Antoinette, Caro animates history with her lush descriptions of architectural splendors and tales of court intrigue. "[An] enchanting travelogue" (Publishers Weekly), Paris to the Past has become one of the classic guidebooks of our time.

Author information

Ina Caro, author of the best-selling The Road from the Past, is an authority on medieval and modern French history. She lives in New York with her husband, the acclaimed biographer Robert A. Caro.

Review quote

"[Caro] is an unabashedly enthusiastic guide. Her love for the places she visits is contagious." "A keen, if sometimes breathless guide to monarchical France and its architecture." "Ina Caro ... has spent her life studying and writing about France, and she has crammed all of her knowledge into this delightful travel guide."